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+ <a href="http://www.sonos.com/">Sonos, Inc.</a> has sent us a complete <a href="http://www.sonos.com/products/">Sonos Digital Music System</a> for review. Aside from being just plain cool, FLAC support is excellent; see <a href="links.html#review_sonos">our writeup</a> for details.<br />
+ <br />
Pearl Jam is selling recordings of many of their live shows <a href="https://bootlegs2.pearljam.com/">in FLAC format</a>.<br />
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Two new portables support FLAC, the Meizu <a href="http://www.miniplayer.info/miniplayer_specifications.asp">M6 Miniplayer</a> and the <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/teclast-tl29-pmp-pretty-face-pure-of-heart-198859.php">Teclast TL-29</a>.<br />
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A whole new batch of devices and stores support FLAC: for portables there are the <a href="http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/iaudio/t2/">iAUDIO T2</a> and <a href="http://www.cowonglobal.com/product/product_F2_feature.php">iAUDIO F2</a>, TrekStor's <a href="http://www.trekstor.de/en/products/detail_mp3.php?pid=66">Vibez</a>, the <a href="http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2006/09/onda-vx737-gaming-pmp.php">Onda VX737</a>, and the <a href="http://www.apod.com.cn/show_products.asp?photoID=437">AP3000</a> from Green Apple. For the home stereo, Slim Devices' <a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html">Transporter</a> and Ziova's <a href="http://www.ziova.com/cs510.php">CS510</a> and <a href="http://www.ziova.com/cs505.php">CS505</a>. For music in FLAC format check out <a href="http://www.digital-tunes.net/">digital-tunes</a> for electronic and underground, or <a href="http://festivalink.net/">FestivaLink.net</a> for live shows.<br />
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- <i>last updated 2006-Dec-06</i> <!-- @@@ update date after changes -->
+ <i>last updated 2006-Dec-18</i> <!-- @@@ update date after changes -->
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<li>PONTIS' <a href="http://www.pontis.de/site_e/produkte/ms_330_e.htm">MS330 Media Server</a></li>
<li>Neodigits' <a href="http://www.neodigits.com/new/body/products/Xline/x5000.asp">Helios X5000</a> HD network media player</li>
<li><a href="http://www.numark.com/">Numark</a>'s DJ equipment like the HDX and CDX turntables with integrated hard drive and CD player, and the HDMIX mixer</li>
- <li><a href="http://www.mock.com/receiver/">Rio Reciever</a> and Dell Digital Audio Receiver via <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/rioplay/">RioPlay</a>, <a href="http://www.reza.net/rio/rrr.html">RRR</a>, <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/triot/">tRio</a>, or <a href="http://www.xplhal.com/xplrionet.htm">xPLRio.net</a> clients (<a href="#review_rio_receiver">review</a>)</li>
+ <li><a href="http://www.mock.com/receiver/">Rio Reciever</a> and Dell Digital Audio Receiver via <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/rioplay/">RioPlay</a>, <a href="http://www.reza.net/rio/rrr.html">RRR</a>, <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/triot/">tRio</a>, or <a href="http://www.xplhal.com/xplrionet.htm">xPLRio.net</a> clients</li>
<li><a href="http://www.rokulabs.com/products/photobridge/features.php">Roku Photobridge HD</a> via <a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.ie/p.mc.quillan/FLAC_V0.7.zip">plugin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.rokulabs.com/">Roku Soundbridge(*)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.skipjam.com/">SkipJam</a>'s networked audio/video devices</li>
- <li><a href="http://www.sonos.com/">Sonos Digital Music System</a></li>
+ <li><a href="http://www.sonos.com/">Sonos Digital Music System</a> (<a href="#review_sonos">review</a>)</li>
<li>Slim Devices' <a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_transporter.html">Transporter</a> and <a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html">Squeezebox</a> networked audio players (<a href="#review_squeezebox2">review</a>)</li>
<li>Turtle Beach's <a href="http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/audiotron/producthome.asp">AudioTron(*)</a> via Bery Rinaldo's <a href="http://file-ext-map.sourceforge.net/">Samba VFS Module</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.z500series.com/">Zensonic Z500 Networked DVD Media Player</a></li>
<li>TrekStor's <a href="http://www.trekstor.de/en/products/detail_mp3.php?pid=66">Vibez</a></li>
</ul>
<a name="review"><b>Reviews:</b></a><br />
- <br />
The main purpose of these reviews is to give an idea of how well particular devices support FLAC. Other subjective comments here are based on our general impressions and are not meant to be thorough or authoritative. We only review devices we have tested directly ourselves.<br />
<br />
- <a name="review_rio_receiver" /><a href="http://www.mock.com/receiver/"><b>Rio Reciever</b></a>: This little device is a hacker's dream. It plays audio over a network (Ethernet or HPNA) so it requires a PC to serve audio files. There are several open source clients available and since it boots its Linux distro over NFS you can write your own client. They're not made anymore but you can still find them on ebay. The main downsides: 1) small, hard-to-read LCD display; 2) FLAC support is only in third-party clients which take some work to set up.<br />
+ <a name="review_sonos" /><a href="http://www.sonos.com/"><b>Sonos</b></a>: A very slick networked audio system. Each ZonePlayer connects to an amplifier or speakers, accessing music over the network. ZonePlayers are controlled by a wireless remote with color LCD and clickwheel; they can network together wired or wireless and play in sync or independently. FLAC support is excellent; nearly the full <a href="format.html#subset">subset</a> (i.e. mono and stereo files, sample rates from 16kHz-48kHz, 16-bits per sample) including all standard encoding modes are supported. Also supported: gapless playback, FLAC tags, and ReplayGain.<br />
+ <br />
+ <a name="review_squeezebox2" /><a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/"><b>Squeezebox2</b></a>: A fantastic networked audio player with analog and digital outputs for connecting to an amplifier/receiver. Has an easy-to-read vacuum fluorescent display, wired or wireless networking, multi-room synchronization, and a bunch of other features. The server-side software, SlimServer, is open-source, runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc. and has an active community. FLAC support is excellent; nearly the full <a href="format.html#subset">subset</a> (i.e. mono and stereo files, sample rates from 8kHz-48kHz, 16- and 24-bits per sample) including all standard encoding modes are supported. Also supported: gapless playback, FLAC tags, automatic transcoding on the server of many audio formats to FLAC for transmission to the box, and external cuesheet support (internal cuesheet support is in the works).<br />
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- <a name="review_squeezebox2" /><a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/"><b>Squeezebox2</b></a>: A fantastic networked audio player. Has an excellent, easy-to-read vacuum fluorescent display, wired or wireless networking, optical and coax digital outs and analog out, a reputation for very high audio quality, multi-room synchronization, and a bunch of other features. The server-side software, SlimServer, is open-source, runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc. and has an active community. FLAC support is excellent; nearly the full <a href="format.html#subset">subset</a> (e.g. sample rates up to 48kHz, 16- and 24-bits per sample) including all standard encoding modes are supported. Also supported are FLAC tags, automatic transcoding on the server of many audio formats to FLAC for transmission to the box, and external cuesheet support (internal cuesheet support is in the works).
+ <table width="100%" border="1">
+ <tr align="center"><th></th><th>Compression<br />modes</th><th>Channels</th><th>Sample<br />rates</th><th>Sample<br />resolution</th><th>Gapless</th><th>FLAC tags</th><th>Cover art</th><th>ReplayGain</th><th>Cuesheets</th></tr>
+ <tr align="center"><th align="right"><a href="http://www.sonos.com/">Sonos</a></th><td>0-8</td><td>stereo,mono</td><td>16kHz-48kHz</td><td>16bps</td><td>Y</td><td>Y</td><td>N</td><td>Y</td><td>N</td></tr>
+ <tr align="center"><th align="right"><a href="http://www.slimdevices.com/">Squeezebox</a></th><td>0-8</td><td>stereo,mono</td><td>8kHz-48kHz</td><td>16bps, 24bps</td><td>Y</td><td>Y</td><td>N</td><td>N</td><td>Y (external)</td></tr>
+ </table>
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